Dueling Piano
by twilightjunkie1313
Summary: In the opinion of Soul Eater Evans they were like dueling pianos. One cannot outmatch something so like itself. They were dark and light, identical and driven, talented, skilled... in perfect contrasting harmony.


**Dueling Piano**

It was not by accident that professor Stine held class outside whenever he taught sparring techniques to the students at the Academy.

The classrooms were too fragile.

…

"Death the Kid…"

There was a murmur of recognition and anticipation that rippled through the classroom after professor Stine called the name.

"… against Maka Albarn."

…

The class filed out of the lecture hall and into the corridor. They funneled out into the paved space before the DWMA entrance.

The young reaper suppressed a grimace as he took his place on one end of the wide space.

The rest of the class stood fairly close to the school building. Standing amid them was professor Stine. He had chosen this duo for a very specific set of reasons.

He wanted to see how a proper weapon and technician pair would fare against Lord Death's son. He also wanted to give Death the Kid a chance to clean up his record, a second sparring match on the site of the first one would help clean the slate.

So he decided to test the young Shinigami out. The only task after that was finding a proper weapon and technician to face the (unquestionably skilled) young reaper.

Maka Albarn was the first and only candidate that came to mind. She would be professional enough to reign in her weapon and skilled enough to handle The Reaper's own son.

Most importantly, she (unlike 80% of the students at the academy) would not turn the spar into a grudge match. The scythe mister had nothing to prove and no vendetta against Death the Kid.

…

The young reaper looked across the pavement to see the slight willowy figure of his opponent. He recognized her, of course. So did his pistols.

"Hey Kid, isn't that…?"

He felt Liz's mind color with recognition.

"Yes, it is the girl from before."

He felt the light strand of laughter and cheer wind through their resonance as Patty giggled to herself.

"…Say, you think she is better then the other guy…?"

Kid glanced at his left hand, where Patty currently waited in gun form.

"One would think so."

At this, Patty let loose a whooping sound.

"Patty that is undignified."

"Sorry."

The young reaper turned his focus to the mister across the pavement. She was standing in a relaxed way, the butt of the scythe's staff resting on the ground while the weight of the weapon rested on her shoulder. The blade sat rather harmlessly behind her back.

…

The pair of technicians turned their attention to the professor, who stood silently waiting for the pair to launch into battle- I mean- their sparring match.

They were waiting for his signal.

He rolled forward on the wheeled office chair, separating himself from the students pressed to the walls of the school and huddled near the doorway.

"Ready?"

A quick glance between the scythe technician and the young reaper resulted in identical nods of confirmation.

"Four."

The professor slid his chair back a foot.

"Three."

Two pairs of shoulders tense at once, their sense of timing is imperfect because it is identical. Stine smirks to himself at this revelation.

"Two."

Maka moves fast, bringing the blade of the scythe down and forward to rest just above the ground in front of her ankles.

"One."

Kid brings both guns up, one arm straight out and the other held sideways near his cheekbone.

"Begin."

…

Kid slides forward, both arms straight out, body in perfect symmetry he begins firing a fast neat clip at the scythe mister.

She begins to twirl the scythe, if rotated fast enough it can deflect whatever it is Kid is firing at her. She manages to spin the scythe fast enough to block the gunfire. As soon as she is satisfied with the metallic plinking sound of Soul deflecting bullets that would otherwise nail her in the shoulders, stomach and lower intestine… she takes off at full tilt in the young reapers direction.

A slight arc of his left eyebrow is the only thing that gives the young reaper's surprise away.

He resists the urge to take a step back, or even lean backward slightly. It is unnatural for him to see anyone run into gunfire. Liz chimes in agreement in his head before advising a switch in tactic.

Internally, he agrees with the oldest pistol.

"It's a mid-range weapon. Get close to them."

Liz's advice is layered with Patty's voice counting backwards from eight.

Patty has begin a countdown to the scythe mister's arrival. It takes mere seconds.

Maka reaches the young reaper as she brings the blade of her weapon out of its rotation and around in a fast stomach-height arc.

The blade swipes through thin air as Death the Kid appears behind her, the slight scrape of metal on metal as Maka slams the staff of the scythe directly back from the right side of her ribcage. It connects with the pistol that Kid was moving toward the back of her head.

Kid is forced to block with the gun as Maka spins around to face him.

Liz breaths a creative string of profanity across their resonance link and Kid falters a half beat, slightly delayed in his effort to block the staff with both of the twin guns he wields.

"She can't use that blade properly."

Liz seems cheered by the notion and Kid can hear the faint echo of Patty laughing through their connection.

"Which would be excellent if it wasn't attached to that staff. As long as she has the ability to block I cannot do anything to beat her."

The tone of the young reaper's voice was both bluntly irritated and completely amused.

Patty and Liz lit their resonance link with a bright laugh of hopefulness. Kid felt a flicker of relief at his weapons emotions.

"Ready Kid?"

The young reaper could feel his weapon's delighted smirk.

Maka had spun the staff of the scythe around and was just about to drive the blunt end of it into the center of her opponent's ribs when there were two quick flashes. Like the opposite of blinking followed by the unexpectedly loud voice of Professor Stine.

…

"Stop."

Nobody moved.

…

Maka looked at the space where Death the Kid had been standing only half a second ago.

Except he wasn't standing there anymore, he was three feet further back and slightly to the right. It was his weapons who occupied the place where he had been standing. Liz, stood completely frozen to the spot in human form with the other pistol in her right hand.

Maka noticed that the pistol was expertly aimed at her forehead. Had that shot been taken (and in Maka's mind it was a clean shot) the scythe mister would have been in the nurse for the rest of the afternoon.

Only, the shot wasn't taken.

…

Stine stared at the frozen weapons and misters.

The sparring match had spiraled out of control the moment Death the Kid's pistol changed form. It was a dirty trick (but misters and weapons should never expect clean fights) so as far as he was concerned, it was an effective maneuver.

A move so brilliantly and elegantly executed save for one thing. The tell-tale flash of light that accompanies every transformation from human to weapon and back.

Soul had spotted it for what it was and somehow understood it meaning in the span of less than a half second.

…

Maka stared at Soul, who had somehow gotten out of her hands, into human form and was holding a weapon version of his forearm at Liz's throat.

Realization fell into place as Maka watched Soul lower his arm and shift it back into a human one. She glanced at Death the Kid, who had stepped forward and was checking over both Liz and Patty.

Soul took a few steps back to give the young reaper and his weapons some space.

…

Stine dismissed the class just as Maka stepped forward and cleared her throat.

Kid, satisfied that neither of his weapons were harmed, turned back to the slight and willowy scythe mister only to see that her hand was extended toward him.

With a slight nod of his head he took her hand and shook it.

…

Later, when each of the Misters and weapons gave thought to the match there would be a flicker of recognition and a weary acknowledgment.

…

Death the Kid and Maka were, in Soul Eater Evan's opinion like a pair of dueling pianos. They were harmonic and contrasting, conflicting and opposing. There was grace there, light and dark tones resonating in each of them, both perfectly capable of standing alone in their work.

The thing about dueling pianos (as Soul knew well) was that it was impossible for one to beat the other, they were so perfectly matched.

…

For a long time after that Liz would see the scythe mister and her weapon in the corridors and be forcibly reminded that all weapon and technician pairs are different.

Looking at them, Liz knew, they were singularly unique.

From the moment Soul held his blade to her neck and made it absolutely clear that he would protect his mister, and that anyone who considered harming her would be placing themselves very much in harms way…from that moment on the two weapons had an understanding.

…

The young reaper recalled the match as a draw.

"Liz."

The eldest pistol looked at him over the top of the book she had been reading. It was late and Patty was asleep upstairs.

"Hm?'

"The match against Maka…"

The reaper trailed off, he didn't know how to begin or carry this conversation. It had been nagging at him for a while now.

"What about it?"

He moved to sit on the couch with her as she placed a bookmark into her book and set it on the coffee table.

"Did Patty know what you were going to do, just before you switched form?"

A pause, the young reaper knows that Liz can recall this series of moments with photographic clarity.

"Yes, she did."

"Why were you both so happy? I was relieved when I felt it because I thought we were going to win."

Liz looks at her lap for a moment before chewing on her lip.

"Liz."

She meets his eyes and flashes a quick shallow smile before explaining.

"I was happy that we could win without putting you in harms way."

Death the Kid cocks his head to the side slightly, before righting it. Liz can tell he is confused and chooses her words carefully. He is the Grim Reaper's son, but she is his guardian.

"Maka was an even match for you. She knows how to wield her weapon at close range, to give you space to fire at her, to even buy you time to fire at her would have meant having to retreat. Which is all fine and good except.."

"… it would put me within her blade's range at some point."

Liz nodded, glad he understood.

"Then why did you and Patty stay in range and toss me out?"

Kid recalls what could have only been Liz's arm forcibly shoving him away from where he had stood.

"To keep you safe. Like I said, Maka was an even match for you."

What Kid didn't hear in Liz's reply was written right between the lines.

We had too much to lose.

…

END.

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.


End file.
